"Maybe some poor tramp has
taken shelter in there and a dog is after them. Come on, Ned,
we've got to help!"
They started on a run for the lonely house, but while still some
distance away a curious thing happened.
There was a sudden cry--an appeal for help it seemed--but this
time in the open. And, as Tom and Ned looked, they saw several men
running from the rear of the old house. Between them they carried
an inert form,
"Something's wrong!" exclaimed Tom, "There's crooked work going on
here, Ned."
"You're right! It's up to us to stop it! Come on!"
But before the boys had taken half a dozen more steps they heard
that which caused them great surprise. For from a shed behind the
house came the unmistakable throb and roar of a motor.
"They're going off in an auto!" cried Ned.
"And they're carrying someone with them!" exclaimed Tom.
By this time they had gotten to a point where they could see the
shed, and what was their astonishment to see being rolled from it
a big biplane. At the sight of it Tom cried:
"It's the Eagle! That's my airship, Ned!"
"You're right! How did it get here?"
"That's for us to find out. I shouldn't wonder, Ned, but what
we're at last on the trail of Peters and his crowd!"
The men--there were four or five of them, Ned guessed--now broke
into a run, still carrying among them the inert form of another.
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